Abstract
This study aims to investigate the in vivo dynamic metabolic changes after induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and iPSC-derived enriched cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CM) transplantation in a rat model of cardiac ischemia injury. Methods: Serial positron emission tomography (PET), echocardiography and immunofluorescence studies were performed after iPSCs and iPSC-CM transplantation, and compared to embryonic stem cells (ESCs), ESCs-derived enriched cardiomocytes (ESC-CM) or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) groups in rats with myocardial infarction. Results: Increased glucose metabolism in peri-infarct areas were observed in stem cell transplanted groups compared to the control. Significant functional improvement were iPSCs group compared to the ESCs group from Week 3 to 4. Immunofluorescence and immunohistochemical staining demonstrated transplanted stem cells survived and migrated to the peri-infarct area. Conclusion: Dynamic metabolic changes indicated metabolic and functional recovery after stem cell transplantation. 18F-FDG PET could be used to evaluate the spatiotemporal dynamic metabolic changes in vivo after stem cell transplantation after ischemia injury.
- Copyright © 2016 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Inc.